Bishop Gumbleton at St. Maurice Church in Dania FL

You are invited to a special Mass at St. Maurice Church, 2851 Stirling Rd., Dania Beach, FL 33312 (954-961-7777) on Sunday, February 8, 2009 at 10:30 a.m. Bishop Thomas Gumbleton will be the celebrant. Bishop Gumbleton has spent his entire adult life and career reaching out and addressing peace and justice issues both in the United States and worldwide. He has championed these causes at great personal sacrifice.

Bishop Gumbleton was the founding president of Pax Christi USA. He met with victims of the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Israel, Palestine, Columbia, Haiti and Peru. He led a delegation to visit the American hostages in Iran in 1979.

If compassion is a prerequisite for resolution to a situation, Tom Gumbleton has an inexhaustible supply of it. It will be an experience of a lifetime to hear a part of his life’s journey.

There will also be a discussion at St. Maurice at 4:00 p.m. on the same date and it is our understanding that Bishop Gumbleton will be present for this as well.

"War is a scandal to be mourned every day. We see war in the newspapers ever and we're used to reading about it: the number of its victims is just part of our daily accounts. We hold events to commemorate the centenary of the Great War and everyone is scandalized by the many millions of dead. But today it's the same... instead of one great war, there are small wars everywhere. When we were children in Sunday School and we were told the story of Cain and Abel, we couldn't accept that someone would kill their own brother. And yet today millions kill their own brothers and we're used to it: there are entire peoples divided, killing each other over a piece of land, a racial hatred, an ambition.

Think of the children starving in refugee camps... these are the fruits of war. And then think of the great dining rooms, of the parties held by those who control the arms industry, who produce weapons. Compare a sick, starving child in a refugee camp with the big parties, the good life led by the masters of the arms trade. And remember, that the wars, the hatred, the hostility aren't products we buy at the market: they're right here, in our hearts. The Apostle James gives us a simple piece of advice: 'Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.' But the spirit of war, which draws us away from God, doesn't just reside in distant parts of the world: the spirit of war comes from our own hearts."

- Homily given by Pope Francis at the Casa San Marta on February 25, 2014